Chương 11
“Mommy.”
Anna turned immediately.
“What happened?”
“Rosie needs a bath.”
Anna looked at the doll.
“She definitely does.”
Lily pointed at Frank.
“Grandpa bath.”
Frank blinked.
Anna said, “You have been selected.”
“For what?”
“To wash a doll.”
Frank looked at Lily.
“Can I appeal?”
“No.”
Daniel said, “Good luck.”
Frank pointed toward his jaw.
“You have your own problems.”
Lily grabbed two of Frank’s fingers and pulled.
He followed her to the downstairs bathroom.
Anna came behind them with a small bottle of hand soap.
“Not too much.”
Frank looked at it.
“How much is too much?”
“You’re seventy years old.”
“I have never washed a doll.”
“That explains a lot.”
Lily stood on a step stool while Frank filled the sink with lukewarm water.
Rosie went in feet first.
Brown water curled away from the doll’s dress.
Lily gasped.
“She’s swimming.”
Frank supported the doll under its back.
“Apparently.”
“No drowning.”
“Understood.”
Anna leaned against the doorframe.
For several minutes they did nothing important.
Frank rinsed synthetic hair.
Lily squeezed soap into the water when Anna was not looking.
Anna caught her halfway through and sighed.
Bubbles climbed the sink.
Frank said, “Too much?”
Anna stared at him.
“You’re both impossible.”
Lily laughed.
The sound filled the small bathroom.
Frank looked at Anna.
She was watching Lily, not him.
Her face was softer now.
Tired, but softer.
Then Anna’s phone vibrated.
She pulled it from her pocket.
The softness disappeared.
Frank saw the name on the screen before she turned it over.
Evelyn.
Anna did not answer.
The phone stopped.
Ten seconds later it vibrated again.
Daniel called from the kitchen.
“Is that Mom?”
Anna said, “Yes.”
“Don’t answer.”
Anna looked irritated.
“I can decide.”
“I know.”
The phone stopped again.
Then a text appeared.
Anna read it.
Frank watched her face close.
“What?”
She held the phone out.
Frank did not take it.
“Read it.”
Anna turned the screen toward him.
Evelyn had written one sentence.
If you choose him after what he did today, do not expect me to protect you from what comes next.
Frank read it twice.
Anna locked the phone.
Daniel appeared in the hall with the ice pack still against his jaw.
“What did she say?”
Anna handed him the phone.
He read the message.
His face changed.
“That sounds like a threat.”
Frank said, “Maybe.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Maybe?”
“It may be anger.”
Anna stared at her father.
“You’re defending her?”
“No.”
“Then what are you doing?”
Frank looked at Lily.
She was squeezing bubbles through her fingers and singing to Rosie.
“Not deciding what something means before I know.”
Anna said nothing.
Daniel handed the phone back.
“That’s new.”
Frank nodded.
“Yes.”
Anna looked at the dark screen in her hand.
Then it vibrated again.
This time the message was from someone else.
Anna opened it.
Her eyes moved once across the words.
Then again.
“What?”
Daniel asked.
Anna slowly looked at Frank.
“It’s my cousin Melissa.”
Frank waited.
Anna read aloud.
“Why is Aunt Evelyn telling everyone you let Frank assault her in front of Lily and then refused to help her?”
Anna read the message again without speaking.
Daniel lowered the ice pack from his jaw.
“That was fast.”
Frank leaned one hand against the bathroom counter.
“Don’t answer while you’re angry.”
Anna looked at him.
“You really have become unbearable in a new direction.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Frank accepted that.
Lily lifted Rosie out of the water by one arm.
“She’s done.”
Water streamed from the doll onto the bath mat.
Anna reached for a towel.
“Apparently so.”
Her phone vibrated again.
Then again.
Daniel said, “That’ll be the cousins.”
Anna wrapped Rosie in the towel as though the doll were an infant.
“What am I supposed to say?”
“Nothing.”
Daniel answered too quickly.
Anna looked at him.
“That’s what you do.”
“It works sometimes.”
“It works until other people decide what your silence means.”
Daniel put the ice pack back against his jaw.
Frank said, “Then tell the truth.”
Anna turned toward him.
“All of it?”
“Yes.”
“You want me to tell people you slapped her.”
“Yes.”
“And that you punched Danny.”
“Yes.”
Daniel raised a finger.
“He definitely did.”
Anna ignored him.
“And what she did to Lily.”
“Yes.”
“And what Danny did.”
Daniel’s finger dropped.
“Still yes.”
Frank looked at him.
Daniel sighed.
“Fine.”
Anna stared at both men.
“You’re very brave now that I’m the one who has to type it.”
Lily pushed between them holding Rosie bundled in the towel.
“She needs clothes.”
Anna crouched.
“I’ll find pajamas.”
“No.”
Lily shook her head.
“Pink dress.”
“It’s dirty.”
“Wash it.”
Anna kissed the top of her head.
Lily walked toward the stairs carrying the damp doll.
Daniel called after her.
“Careful, the floor’s slippery.”
She ignored him.
Frank waited until she disappeared.
Then Anna held up the phone.
“I am not turning this into a family trial.”
Daniel said, “Good.”
“I’m sending one message.”
Frank said nothing.
She typed slowly.
Daniel tried to look over her shoulder.
Anna turned away.
“Stop.”
“I’m family.”
“You’re the defendant.”
“In what?”
“Everything.”
Frank took Rosie’s muddy dress from the sink where Anna had left it.
He squeezed excess water from the fabric.
Neither of them noticed.
Anna read her message silently once before sending it.
Daniel said, “What did you write?”
“The facts.”
“That’s vague.”
“I said there was an argument, Mom was not abandoned, police came, statements were taken, nobody was arrested, Lily was not physically hurt, and I’m not discussing it by text.”
Daniel nodded.
“And Dad hitting her?”
“I said there was physical violence involving Dad, Mom, and you.”
Daniel frowned.
“That makes it sound like a bar fight.”
“That’s because you all behaved like one.”
Frank could not object.
Anna sent the message.
The phone began vibrating within seconds.
She turned it off.
Daniel looked impressed.
“You turned it off.”
“Yes.”
“What if the police call?”
May you like
Anna froze.
Then powered it back on.
